Bears' safeties continue to get burned

Lions' Johnson gets behind Harris for 73-yard TD

October 11, 2011|By Vaughn McClure, Chicago Tribune reporter

DETROIT — Chris Harris was distraught as he stood on the sideline and stared at the replay board.

The Bears strong safety imagined returning to the lineup off a hamstring injury and having an impact, not being a liability. Harris looked far from fully healthy as he watched Lions receiver Calvin Johnson blow by him in the second quarter.

"Just got too wide on him, overplayed him," said Harris, who claimed he wasn't limited by the hamstring. "He ran a good route."

Meriweather had a chance to stop Johnson at the 10-yard line but failed to bring the lanky receiver to the ground.

"I made too many mistakes," he said.

The safeties weren't the only ones with issues. The defense gave up too many big plays in general, including a game-changing 88-yard touchdown run to speedy Lions back Jahvid Best. After the play, linebacker Brian Urlacher was livid on the sideline as he sat next to a pouting Lance Briggs.

"I don't know what happened. I know (Best) didn't get touched," Urlacher said. "Usually something's not right on a big run like that. That shouldn't happen.

"Lance and I talk after every play, good or bad. One play doesn't mean any more than the next. We just need to figure out what happened."

The long plays were exactly what coach Lovie Smith didn't want to see happen again. His defense surrendered a 79-yard touchdown from Drew Brees to Devery Henderson in a loss to the Saints. Last week against Carolina, Meriweather was caught playing too high as Panthers rookie Cam Newton found Steve Smith for a 53-yard hookup.

Then Monday night, the Bears give up the Johnson touchdown catch, the Best touchdown run, then another 43-yard run to Best in the fourth quarter.

Four plays of 50-plus yards in three of the last four weeks is far from what is expected from a defensive scheme designed to keep offenses from going deep. Then again, the Cover-2 depends so much on the pass rush from the front four, and the rush has been nonexistent for the Bears, including on Johnson's touchdown.

And this was one of the top defenses in the league a year ago.

"We're not top 5 defense now," Briggs said. "We're not playing as well."